Inside Labour Together: The project behind Keir Starmer

POLITICO’s weekly podcast lifting the curtain on how Westminster really works.
By SASCHA O’SULLIVAN
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The red half of Westminster will shortly decamp to Liverpool for the first Labour conference since the party’s general election landslide. Host Sascha O’Sullivan looks at a group which played a key role in that victory — the left-wing think-tank Labour Together.
Sascha pieces together the fascinating origin story of Labour Together, speaking to ITV Deputy Political Editor Anushka Asthana, author of a new book, which details the group’s influence, and Keir Starmer biographer Tom Baldwin.
Andrew Cooper, political pollster and member of Labour Together advisory board, tells Sascha how Josh Simons, former director of the think tank, built on the work of Morgan McSweeney by using deep voter analysis to help Labour HQ.
Sascha speaks to the group’s new chief executive, Jonathan Ashworth, about Labour Together’s role in shaping the thinking of the new government. He addresses some of the cronyism accusations surrounding the think tank and is quizzed by Sascha on its purpose now Labour is in power.
Henry Newman, former political adviser and author of the Whitehall project, explains the concerns about how Labour Together acted as a middleman for political donations between wealthy individuals and politicians.
Labour “mega-donor” Dale Vince tells Sascha why he gave money to the think tank.
And think tank stalwarts Harry Quilter-Pinner of the Institute of Public Policy Research, Ryan Wain of the Tony Blair Institute and Charlotte Pickles explain how Labour Together fits into the world of the wonks and how different it is from most policy outfits.
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